WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,

Richmond, August 15, 1861.

Major D. LEADBETTER,

Engineer Corps, C. S. Army:

MAJOR: You will as soon as possible prepare for this Department estimates for the defenses of Mobile suggested in your letter to the Honorable R. H. Smith, of Congress, bearing date August 4, 1861, at Fort Gaines. The defenses should be distinctly set forth, and the particular estimate for each one made to appear. Sixteen 10-inch columbiads, with carriages, have been ordered to Mobile for Forts Morgan and Gaines as soon as they can be forwarded by the Ordnance Bureau. You are hereby authorized and directed to have all the 32-pounder guns referred to in your letter to the Honorable R. H. Smith rifled without delay and placed in the best position to repel an enemy.

Respectfully,

L. P. WALKER,

Secretary of War.

[6.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,

Richmond, August 15, 1861.

His Excellency A. B. MOORE,

Governor of Alabama:

SIR: It is considered by this Department necessary that additional troops shall be sent to Fort Gaines, and I trust Your Excellency will accept for this purpose six companies and that they will be forwarded to Fort Gaines, where they will be mustered into service.

Very respectfully,

L. P. WALKER,

Secretary of War.

[6.]

MILITARY AND FINANCIAL BOARD,

Nashville, Tenn., August 15, 1861.

Major General LEONIDAS POLK,

Memphis:

SIR: Your letter of the 13th to Governor Harris requesting him to send you gunpowder of every description has been sent to this department. We have but 11,000 pounds of blasting and 35,000 pounds of rifle powder, and are using from 600 to 700 pounds daily in making cartridges and field ammunition. Having sent a great part of our cartridges, &c., to Virginia and East Tennessee, we have scarcely any on hand. We have as yet but little saltpeter on hand, and but faint hope of getting it for some time in any considerable quantities. Under the circumstances, we feel reluctant to part with any part of our stock, unless there is a necessity for it. If your command requires it, of course we will send it to the last ounce, but we suppose from the last report of the ordnance department at Memphis that you must have double the quantity that we possess here. If you are compelled to have it, let us know.

With respect,

J. E. BAILEY,

For the Board.

[4.]